Movie and Tv recs
May. 27th, 2006 09:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatDon't mind me, still playing with lists for some reason. This morning it's movies and tv shows.
Honestly, I have no idea why this has popped into my head and I'm certain if you asked me a month from now, my choices would change dramatically. They tend to do that. I'm moody when it comes to artistic appreciation.
Five movies that I'd recommend seeing before you die, or art films:
1. Death in Venice - an Italien film by Luchino Visconti, 1971, starring Dirk Bogard.
the first of the surreal artistic films of that period, about an aging Italian artist who becomes betwitched by a beautiful boy, when pestilence hits and symbolizes corruption and death of ideals.
2.Raise the Red Lantern - a chinese film by Zang Yimou, starring Gong Li, who'd also directed House of Flying Daggers and Hero. This is the lesser known of those films. And far quieter and more disturbing. I saw it years ago but am still haunted by it. It's about an educated woman who quits school after the death of her father and marries a rich landowner much to her stepmother's dismay and warnings. She's the fourth wife and finds herself isolated in his home, with only servants, and the other wives hatching plots against her. Each time he wants to see one of his wives he lights a lantern.
The movie is disturbing in its portrayal of gender politics, politics in general.
3.To Kill A Mockingbird by Robert Mulligan, 1962, starring Gregory Peck. Filmed in black and white, the movie also stars a young Robert Duvall. It is a film that challenges our perceptions, shot entirely in the pov of a young girl, and centers around the case of a black man being tried for the molestation of a white woman in the South in the 1950s.
4.All About My Mother - directed by Pedro Almodovar - a single mother in Madrid watches her only son die at 17 as he runs to seek an actress' autograph. She journeys to find his father, a transvesite named Lola. The film is about motherhood and grief.
5. Breaking the Waves by Lars Von Trier (the best of this director's films in my opinion).
Oilman is paralyzed in an accident and insists that his wife, who prayed for his return, to have sex with another man. It deals with loniliness and isolation. And the need to connect, but inability to do so.
Five Guilty Pleasures, that I've watched over and over again, and pause when they come on tv and watch yet again :
1. Gross Point Blank - starring John Cusak, Minni Driver, Jeffrey Piven. About a hit man who goes to his high reunion.
2. Lady Hawk - starring Mathew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, and Michelle Peffier. A fantasy about a theif who helps two estranged and cursed lovers break their curse. One is cursed to be a wolf by night and the other cursed to be a Hawk by day.
3. BladeRunner - directed by Ridely Scott, based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah, and Scean Young. A noir sci-fi about a private dick who hunts down artificial humans or robots, who want to be human.
4. West Side Story - by Robert Wise/Jerome Robbins - adapatation of the Broadway musical of the same name. Starring Natalie Wood, George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Morena.
5. Jaws - directed by Stephen Spielberg
Five American TV series to watch before you die, if you like tv that is:
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - say what you will, the series changed pop culture, created a new female hero, flipped the slasher/gothic movie upside down and created a new sub-genre of fantasy - urban. And it had a blast doing it. Academics went nutty over it - to the extent they created college courses and conventions and published articles analyzing all the themes - which is fascinating in of itself, since the series makes fun of academia, and questions it.
2. MASH - amongst the first dramedy's. It made fun but not light of war. Lasting longer than the war it was about, the Korean Conflict, it showcased how crazy such things are and through black comedy, examined the foibles.
3. Hill Street Blues - changed the cop show forever. Created in some respects the ensemble work drama that focused on what people did, not so much on personal lives.
4. St. Elsewhere - did for medicine what Hill Street did for Cops. Without St. Elsewhere, I'm not sure we'd have ER or for that matter Grey's Anatomy.
5. Star Trek - created the science-fiction series - did for TV what Star Wars did for movies.
Campy at times, but always thought-provoking. Make sure you check the newer hybrids, Star Trek the NExt Generation, Deep Space Nine, and the earlier seasons of Voyager. The first cancelled tv show that spanned a film. Without Star Trek - we may not have BattleStar Galatica, Farscape, Star-Gate, or Firefly.
And Twilight Zone - by Rod Serling, the first great sci-fi anthology series....
Plus five foreign tv series:
1. Doctor Who
2. Prime Suspect
3. Kimba the White Lion
4. The Avengers
5. The Prisoner
Honestly, I have no idea why this has popped into my head and I'm certain if you asked me a month from now, my choices would change dramatically. They tend to do that. I'm moody when it comes to artistic appreciation.
Five movies that I'd recommend seeing before you die, or art films:
1. Death in Venice - an Italien film by Luchino Visconti, 1971, starring Dirk Bogard.
the first of the surreal artistic films of that period, about an aging Italian artist who becomes betwitched by a beautiful boy, when pestilence hits and symbolizes corruption and death of ideals.
2.Raise the Red Lantern - a chinese film by Zang Yimou, starring Gong Li, who'd also directed House of Flying Daggers and Hero. This is the lesser known of those films. And far quieter and more disturbing. I saw it years ago but am still haunted by it. It's about an educated woman who quits school after the death of her father and marries a rich landowner much to her stepmother's dismay and warnings. She's the fourth wife and finds herself isolated in his home, with only servants, and the other wives hatching plots against her. Each time he wants to see one of his wives he lights a lantern.
The movie is disturbing in its portrayal of gender politics, politics in general.
3.To Kill A Mockingbird by Robert Mulligan, 1962, starring Gregory Peck. Filmed in black and white, the movie also stars a young Robert Duvall. It is a film that challenges our perceptions, shot entirely in the pov of a young girl, and centers around the case of a black man being tried for the molestation of a white woman in the South in the 1950s.
4.All About My Mother - directed by Pedro Almodovar - a single mother in Madrid watches her only son die at 17 as he runs to seek an actress' autograph. She journeys to find his father, a transvesite named Lola. The film is about motherhood and grief.
5. Breaking the Waves by Lars Von Trier (the best of this director's films in my opinion).
Oilman is paralyzed in an accident and insists that his wife, who prayed for his return, to have sex with another man. It deals with loniliness and isolation. And the need to connect, but inability to do so.
Five Guilty Pleasures, that I've watched over and over again, and pause when they come on tv and watch yet again :
1. Gross Point Blank - starring John Cusak, Minni Driver, Jeffrey Piven. About a hit man who goes to his high reunion.
2. Lady Hawk - starring Mathew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, and Michelle Peffier. A fantasy about a theif who helps two estranged and cursed lovers break their curse. One is cursed to be a wolf by night and the other cursed to be a Hawk by day.
3. BladeRunner - directed by Ridely Scott, based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah, and Scean Young. A noir sci-fi about a private dick who hunts down artificial humans or robots, who want to be human.
4. West Side Story - by Robert Wise/Jerome Robbins - adapatation of the Broadway musical of the same name. Starring Natalie Wood, George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Morena.
5. Jaws - directed by Stephen Spielberg
Five American TV series to watch before you die, if you like tv that is:
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - say what you will, the series changed pop culture, created a new female hero, flipped the slasher/gothic movie upside down and created a new sub-genre of fantasy - urban. And it had a blast doing it. Academics went nutty over it - to the extent they created college courses and conventions and published articles analyzing all the themes - which is fascinating in of itself, since the series makes fun of academia, and questions it.
2. MASH - amongst the first dramedy's. It made fun but not light of war. Lasting longer than the war it was about, the Korean Conflict, it showcased how crazy such things are and through black comedy, examined the foibles.
3. Hill Street Blues - changed the cop show forever. Created in some respects the ensemble work drama that focused on what people did, not so much on personal lives.
4. St. Elsewhere - did for medicine what Hill Street did for Cops. Without St. Elsewhere, I'm not sure we'd have ER or for that matter Grey's Anatomy.
5. Star Trek - created the science-fiction series - did for TV what Star Wars did for movies.
Campy at times, but always thought-provoking. Make sure you check the newer hybrids, Star Trek the NExt Generation, Deep Space Nine, and the earlier seasons of Voyager. The first cancelled tv show that spanned a film. Without Star Trek - we may not have BattleStar Galatica, Farscape, Star-Gate, or Firefly.
And Twilight Zone - by Rod Serling, the first great sci-fi anthology series....
Plus five foreign tv series:
1. Doctor Who
2. Prime Suspect
3. Kimba the White Lion
4. The Avengers
5. The Prisoner
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 02:21 pm (UTC)And I have always loved Grosse Point Blank. Great black humor, and a fitting mid-career kind of role for Cusack. Also the first time I'd seen Minnie Driver, and I was surprised to find out she wasn't american.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 02:56 pm (UTC)I bought the DVD of To Kill a Mockingbird last year. Some of the extras are a little too self-congratulatory, but the movie is as great as it ever was. It's a fine representation of the book, without actually spoiling the charm of reading the book.
I read Death in Venice in a German Lit class. Didn't like it much. But, a movie version does sound intriguing.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 04:32 pm (UTC)The problem with DVD's, and I agree with something Stephen King of all people wrote about this - is the extras tend to be self-congratulatory affairs. Basically actors and directors talking about how great they are and great they look and isn't this brilliant? To the point that you start rolling your eyes and start seeing all the flaws. Reminds me why I don't want to meet the creators of the art I adore.
Whedon is one of the few who doesn't always do this. He did it on Serenity, but not on a good portion of the BTVS commentaries. Another person who didn't do it is Jane Campion for In The Cut - where she actually discusses the process.
My gut tells me that by the time they get around to doing commentary they've forgotten the filmmaking experience and have no clue what to say. The ICe Storm had a decent - "anatomy of the scene" but the rest was self-congratulatory treacle.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 11:09 pm (UTC)Hmm, I think I must add that to my DVD list.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 07:23 pm (UTC)The TV show MASH changed as America's views and reactions to Vietnam changed. And was in some respects the best critique tv did of war and how incredibly dull war can be, not to mention the complete lunancy of it.
Series such as China Beach and the other one that I can't remember the name of but focused on a troop in the conflict, took a more dramatic approach, but I'm not certain captured the lunacy of war in quite the same fashion. Some of the reports coming from Iraq remind me a great deal of the 4077 MASH.